The Internet Book Database of Fiction

#	Date	Publisher	Binding	Cover
1	1995-01-00	Raupo Publishing

Blurb:: From an amazon customer:

This is a novel about a married father "coming out" after years of playing straight (at least in public). It is pretty graphic both in its raw description of David's sexual encounters and in its rendering of his emotional turmoil. But to me the graphic sexual encounters were part of the point. We've got used to the "soap opera" depictions of gay men on our TV screens and movies, but there is more to the gay lifestyle than good fashion sense and being best buddies with straight women. The sex scenes in this book "lift the lid" on what goes on between the sheets (or in the steam room...) and in doing so give the reader an insight into the physical side of gay life.

But its not all about the sex, and there are powerful accounts of love David feels for his wife and children and the adjustments they, his friends and his parents have to make as he leaves what from the outside (and even from the inside) looked like a marriage with everything.

As always, Ihimaera's writing is strong. He is easy to read, and has a geat "ear" for dialogue. While David is clearly identified as a Maori male, this novel has less of a culteral theme than other Ihimaera novels I have read - at least in the ethnic sense. I guess you could say that it provides a pretty good insight to the gay "culture" in contemporary urban NZ.

While this book won't be for everyone, it is certainly a thought